Fear, Memory, and Stress Hormones: Too Much and at the Wrong Time

This animal study reveals the effects of glucocorticoids on abnormal fear responses, such as are found in PTSD.

Individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have two different memory impairments: increased memory for the event (manifested by intrusive recollections and flashbacks), and a fear that has spread beyond the cues that are related to the trauma. We know that glucocorticoids affect reaction to later stress (JW Psychiatry Mar 5 2012). These investigators used fear conditioning in mice as a model in investigating glucocorticoids' role in PTSD-like memory impairments and hippocampal–amygdalar activation.

The researchers injected corticosterone in the hippocampus of mice placed within a specific context (conditioning cage) and subjected to a fearful stimulus (footshock) that was either preceded or not by a cue (tone). Mice that did not …

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Fear, Memory, and Stress Hormones: Too Much and at the Wrong Time

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Reviewing Author